Team Yellow's Masterlog
by Tashojiri
Summary: The sequel to Team Yellow's Pokélog but can be read by itself . Janet, now a master, sets out to Aspen to compete in the Master Tournament. How will she fare against the much more experienced pokémon masters? Discontinued.
1. Information

NOTE: This first "chapter" contains some background information about the story. It's not necessary to read, but it should help somewhat to understand the story. If you'd rather not read this, just skip to the prologue to begin the story! This is the same information that was posted at the beginning of TYP, so if you've read that, there's not really any reason to read this.

  
  


_Team Yellow's Pokélog _is the first _Pokémon_ fanfic I began writing, and to date, the only one I've finished. ^_^; The 200 chapters took me 3 years and 3 months to write - from February 1999 until May 2002. Because I started writing it when I was 13 years old, you can see how the writing style improves as the story goes along. ^_^ I had ideas for _Team Yellow's Masterlog_ pretty much since the day I started TYP, but only released it in April 2003.

TYP can be classed as a "new trainer" fanfic, but with a major difference in that it's not set in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, or any other existing _Pokémon_ world. Instead, it's set in the world of _Team Yellow's Tales_, which is a sort-of-fanfic I've been working on since . . . as long as I can remember. ^_^ By sort-of-fanfic, I mean that it's not based on any particular game/anime/whatever, but it uses some of the elements of these in it, particularly the _Super Mario Bros._ series. Before I explain the _Team Yellow's Tales_ universe, or the "yellowverse" as it's come to be known, I have to point out that _Team Yellow's Pokélog_'s world is only _based_ on the TYT world, it's still not the exact same one. The main difference is that, well, pokémon and pokémon training and so on exist in the TYP world! Once I explain the world of _Team Yellow's Tales_ to you, I'll explain which elements of this exist in _Team Yellow's Pokélog_ and which don't. I just feel that explaining the yellowverse first will help me to explain the world of TYP. ^_^

The yellowverse is made up of an almost infinite amount of different species, from all of the different games, anime, cartoons, stories, and so on, around the world. By species I mean things like yoshis from _Super Mario Bros._, nameks from _DragonBall Z_, cabbits from _Tenchi Muyo!_, kitsunegumas from _Hunter X Hunter_, meowths from _Pokémon_, and so on. In the yellowverse, each species lives in much the same way as humans do. They all speak in human tongue (a few have their own native languages, but these are mostly dead languages), go to school, work, and basically everything else which humans do (except stand on two feet and wear clothes!). Each species is its own biological species, so those which in their original games/anime/whatnot which "evolve" or otherwise change, do not. Thus, an azurill, a marill, and an azumarill are all completely different species, despite how much they look alike. Most species like azurills which are very small, grow slightly larger in the yellowverse as a result of their lack of evolution. None of the species have special powers like natus having psychic abilities, but some species do have (limited) abilities such as charmanders being able to breathe fire.

And so, in the yellowverse, although there are such species as squirtles and snorlaxes, there are no such thing as pokémon. That may be a hard concept to grasp, but it will make sense after a while. Take the character Gelby Chu. She's a pikachu, but she's not a pokémon. This is because pikachus in the yellowverse are born pikachus and stay pikachus - Gelby was never a pichu and never will be a raichu. Similarly, pikachus in the yellowverse do not have any electricity, and are not able to be kept in pokéballs (especially since pokéballs themselves don't exist!). Each one of them speaks English. So what does Gelby have in common with Ash's pikachu? Basically, nothing, except her appearance.

As for the world itself . . . the yellowverse is divided up into continents, and each continent basically functions as a country. Within each continent, there are different kingdoms, which are the lands which can be found in different games, anime, etc.. For example, the Mushroom Kingdom from _Super Mario Bros._, Hyrule from _The Legend of Zelda_, and such. However, these lands are not exactly the same as the ones you know and love . . . as although they contain many of the same features, they also contain a lot more, mainly the modern residential and commercial areas. So yes, only a few minutes' drive from Hyrule Castle is, in fact, the Hyrule shopping centre, a set of high-rise flats, and loads more. ^_^

The continent in which most of _Team Yellow's Tales_ is set is called Mildew, and its capital kingdom is the Mushroom Kingdom. It also contains Hyrule and a number of other kingdoms both existing in games etc. and ones made specifically for TYT such as the Reflexion Kingdom, where the main character Janet Harris lives. Mildew is inhabited mainly by Nintendo species. The South-East area, where both the Mushroom Kingdom and the Reflexion Kingdom, are located, consists of mainly creatures from _Super Mario Bros._, like yoshis, koopa troopers, goombas and bob-ombs. Different areas of Mildew contain different species, and different continents of the yellowverse, such as Aspen or Trefoil, are inhabited by different species yet again.

Now, although species from these various games and so on live in the yellowverse as humans do, this doesn't mean that the games which they're from don't exist either! No, quite the opposite. Video games like _Pokémon_ do exist in _Team Yellow's Tales_, despite there being remoraids speaking English, not using attacks and not evolving. In fact, _Pokémon_ is one of Gelby's favourite games. She doesn't find it strange to have to "train" pikachus which can only say the word "pikachu", which have strange powers and which somehow can transform into raichus. As strange as that may sound, it's not all that weird when you think about it. We watch anime like _DragonBall Z_ where humans fly, turn into monkeys, and can throw energy blasts and so on, don't we? It's really no different to that.

I think that pretty much sums up the yellowverse for you. I don't know whether I've made any sense or not, since it's hard to explain something that only I understand to someone who's probably never heard of _Team Yellow's Tales_ before. ^_^ If you have any questions about the yellowverse, feel free to ask: I'd be happy to answer them.

  
  


So how does all of this work in _Team Yellow's Pokélog_? In TYP the scenario is slightly different. There exist those kinds of "pokémon" mentioned above, but they are only found in a town called Pallet Town (which isn't the same one Ash lives in, it's simply named after it) and are thus called "Pallet pokémon". They also have some features of the "real" pokémon, but these features are very limited. In TYP, Gelby can give people electric shocks, something she cannot do in TYT! I chose to do this to help people grasp the concept of yellowverse species. However, Gelby still does not evolve nor can she be kept in a pokéball.

The main difference between TYP and TYT is that in TYP, pokémon _do_ exist. As well as the "Pallet pokémon", there are the creatively titled "Poké pokémon". ^_^; These are the pokémon you are familiar with: those which speak only their name, which can use attacks, which evolve, and which can be kept in pokéballs. Unlike the rest of the species of the yellowverse, they do not live like humans, but instead like animals, just as they do in the _Pokémon_ games and anime. In TYP, there are pokémon trainers, pokémon gyms, and of course a Pokémon League.

Thus, the world of _Team Yellow's Pokélog_ is somewhat of a combination between the world of _Team Yellow's Tales_ and the world of _Pokémon_. Perhaps I should have chosen a less complicated scenario for my fanfic, but it really isn't all that complicated once you read the story. Although originally I was going to include species from TYT such as koopa troopers and goombas regularly, I decided against it. The only non-typical _Pokémon_ character is Sand-Cloud Pluff the yoshi, whom I had to include as she's part of Team Yellow itself. ^_^ If you ignore the fact that a yoshi travels around on a pokémon journey, _Team Yellow's Pokélog_ really isn't all that different from the _Pokémon_ universe. You can simply imagine Gelby as a pikachu who can speak English and doesn't battle, if you wish. ^_^

Finally, _Team Yellow's Pokélog_ takes place in locations from _Team Yellow's Tales_, not from the _Pokémon_ games or anime. So instead of travelling to Cinibar Island to earn the fire-type badge, Team Yellow must travel to Charcoal City. And speaking of badges . . . the Pokémon League in _Team Yellow's Pokélog_ requires trainers to collect fifteen badges, not eight. The fifteen badges must be of the fifteen pokémon types (TYP is set in the days of _Blue/Red/Yellow_). Rather than allowing the trainer to enter a competition like in the _Pokémon_ anime, the fifteen badges allow the trainer to battle an elite trainer (just one, not four ^_^) for the "master badge" which gives the trainer the status of Pokémon Master. Of course, in TYM, Janet is already a pokémon master, competing in the Master League, but you'll learn about that as you read _Team Yellow's Masterlog_.

  
  


The "characters" thing at the beginning of each chapter is there to help you remember the names of the pokémon and such. By the end of the story there are quite a lot of pokémon to keep track of, so I decided to put the "characters" at the start of each chapter so that you can refer to it when they appear. A lot of the time it does state what pokémon the character is, but sometimes it doesn't. So if it just says "Chazz" and you can't remember what Chazz is, just look up the top of the chapter and it'll tell you that it's a charmander. Hmm, I just spent a whole paragraph explaining a fairly simple concept. =P Anyway, the "characters" list also tells you the last names of the main characters, which don't actually appear in the story. So there you go.  
  
A lot of the characters in the story have been submitted by people on request. If you'd like to submit a character to appear in _Team Yellow's Masterlog_, just contact me. ^_^


	2. Prologue

**Prologue (Team Yellow's Pokélog)**

  
  


My name's Janet Harris, I'm from the Reflexion Kingdom in Mildew, and I'm an eighteen-year-old pokémon master. Some people think it's amazing that I'm a pokémon master at the age of eighteen, but other people think it's pretty pathetic that it took me three whole years to get there. Either way, I did have a lot of fun on my pokémon journey. My two best friends, Sand-Cloud Pluff and Gelby Chu, came with me, which made it a lot more enjoyable. My friend Luke Smytheson was also training to become a pokémon master, so we met up with him a lot, too. Of course, some of the best memories are of the friends I met along the way . . . Simone Earl, Josh and Kew Gibbs, Allin Martin, and the team known as The Stars, which is made up of Sylvia Evans, Lia Dunlap, Tara Floyd and Vanessa Sykes.

Despite all the fun, it wasn't all that easy. I had a few rivals to contend with. These two older trainers called Ace and Kat kept showing up and bugging me, but after a while they must have headed off in a different direction to me, 'cause then I didn't see much more of them. Then there was my number one rival, Mitch Orien. He used to be best friends with Luke, but then . . . well . . . Mitch and I just don't get along, OK, and that's all I'm saying about it. So yeah, basically I think I kind of drew Luke away from Mitch, 'cause he knew that I didn't like him . . . and I kind of feel guilty about ruining their friendship, but on the other hand I'm glad because Mitch is such a creep and I'm really glad Luke doesn't hang around with him anymore. Anyway, Mitch was always ahead of me during my pokémon journey, and he was always showing off because of it, but then Luke and I both beat him in becoming pokémon masters . . . and you should have seen the look on his face, it was so funny! We sure showed him!

I haven't really seen that much of my trainer friends during the past year, 'cause I had to go back to school for a year so that I'd actually have some kind of qualifications. I've finished school now, which is great, because it's just in time for the Master Tournament, which is a pokémon battling competition exclusively for pokémon masters, held all the way over in Aspen. It'll be my first big pokémon tournament that I'll compete in, and I can't wait to see how well my pokémon match up against the competition. The best part is that the top trainers win a rare pokémon! Speaking of which, Aspen has a whole lot of pokémon that don't live in Mildew, so while I'm there I'll be sure to catch as many as I can . . . this is gonna be so cool!


	3. Part One, Chapter One

**Part One, Chapter One**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu

  
  


'This is the last call for flight one hundred and fifty-one to Aspen. Last call for flight one hundred and fifty-one to Aspen. Departing in five minutes.'

'You don't understand, I have to get on that flight!' I insisted.

'I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to travel with all those pokémon until they've been thoroughly checked and immunised by a veterinarian,' the woman behind the desk told me placidly.

'But my pokémon are perfectly fine!' I said desperately. 'They always get healed at Pokémon Centres!'

'I'm sorry, but the rules say they need to be checked and immunised,' said the woman.

I moaned.

'Listen . . .' Sand-Cloud, the yellow yoshi standing beside me, folded her arms. 'We've got to get to Aspen to compete in the Master Tournament.'

'I don't care what you've got to get there for,' said the woman. 'You ain't taking any pokémon with you!'

'Oh, so Janet's just gonna compete in the tournament without pokémon is she?' Sand-Cloud asked sarcastically.

'I don't see what the problem is,' I said. 'They're all staying in their pokéballs-'

'Oh, well what about _that_ one?' the woman said, gesturing to the pikachu on my shoulders. Sand-Cloud and I glanced at Gelby, our pikachu friend.

Gelby let out an irritated sigh. 'I'm _not_ a pokémon.'

As strange as that may have sounded, it was true. Gelby may well have been a pikachu, but she was a special species of pikachu that, well, meant that she wasn't a pokémon. Hang on, let me explain.

Here in Mildew, there's a small town located on the outskirts of the Reflexion Kingdom (my home kingdom) called Pallet Town. No, _not_ the Pallet Town of Kanto; it was simply named after it. In the Mildewan Pallet Town, a very unusual variety of pokémon existed. They were all gifted with human speech, did not evolve (so a pikachu was a different species to a raichu, for example), could not use pokémon attacks, and were not able to be kept in pokéballs. Of course, they were not permitted to be used in pokémon battles, and so really, when it came down to it, they _weren't_ pokémon at all. All that they had in common with "real" pokémon was that they looked the same.

'Oh,' said the woman, realising. 'Right.' Then she shook her head. 'But it doesn't matter whether they're in their pokéballs or not, it's against all the laws of both Mildew _and_ Aspen to take pokémon that haven't been immunised into another continent. I'm sorry.'

'The gates to flight one hundred and fifty-one to Aspen are now closed. Repeat, the gates to flight one hundred and fifty-one to Aspen are now closed.'

'Oh terrific,' I sighed. Now what? Here I was, all geared up for competing in the Master Tournament in Aspen, and I'd missed my flight because my perfectly health pokémon hadn't had some darn shots! I'd trained for months for this competition! I'd only been a pokémon master for a little over a year, and I'd never competed in any masters-only tournaments before. This would have been my chance to see just how good a trainer I really was . . . and now it was over before it had begun.

'Thanks a lot,' muttered Sand-Cloud, shaking her head. 'Come on Janet, let's get out of here.'

With another sigh, I picked up my backpack containing my twenty-nine pokémon and slung it over my shoulder, turning around and heading away. We left the huge building of the Mushroom Airport and began trudging down the street. I couldn't believe it was all over . . ..

As we walked along in silence, all I could think about was the Master Tournament. I was so lost in my thoughts of the tragedy that I didn't notice the commotion right away . . ..

'Stop that beedrill!'

I looked up, shocked. A man in his mid thirties or so ran past me, arms outstretched. Or at least, he was _trying_ to run . . . he was so puffed out that he could hardly move. He stopped, bending over and taking in a series of deep breaths.

'Um . . . are you OK?' I said uncertainly, stepping towards him.

'Please!' he turned to me desperately. 'You've gotta stop that beedrill!' He gestured up to the sky, where in the distance I could see a beedrill soaring away. 'It's got my HM two, it's very valuable to me, I need you to get it back!'

'HM two?' I asked, blinking. I had no idea what that was, but whatever it was, the man certainly seemed upset about losing it. 'Don't worry, I'll get it back for you!' I reached into my backpack and pulled out one of my pokéballs. 'Potow, I choose you!'

I tossed the pokéball into the air. It opened with a flash of light, and my trusty old pidgeot appeared. I smiled.

'Potow, I need you to chase after that beedrill and get back the uh . . . _thing_ that it's got!' I said.

'Pidgeot!' nodded Potow. It flapped its huge rust-coloured wings and shot off into the distance.

'It's OK, Potow will get it back for you,' I smiled. 'It's one of the most reliable pokémon I've got.'

'That pidgeot's one of the fastest pokémon I've ever seen,' said Gelby reassuringly. 'It'll get back your HM.'

I wanted to ask her what a exactly an HM _was_, but I figured it probably wasn't the best time. I peered off into the distance, where I could just make out Potow slapping at the beedrill with its Wing Attack.

'Yeah, go Potow!' I cheered, as the beedrill dropped through the air like a pin, defeated. Potow swooped down, grabbed the beedrill in its talons, and turned back to us. It propelled itself towards us with its Quick Attack, appearing above me almost instantaneously. It lowered itself to the ground, holding the injured beedrill on the ground with its sharp claws.

'Beedrill . . .' said the pokémon weakly, looking up at Potow in fear of what the pidgeot might do to it.

'Pidgeo!' said Potow triumphantly.

'Great work, Potow!' I said proudly, patting my pokémon on its regal golden head feathers.

'Pidgeooo . . .' cooed Potow, smiling. It bent down to the beedrill and pulled something out of the pokémon's claws with its beak. It was a strange metal object, looking somewhat like a helmet, only with a screen and buttons on the side of it.

'Thank you so much, Pidgeot!' said the man, as Potow handed the object to him. 'I'm forever in your debt!'

'Oh . . . that's OK,' I said.

Just as the man was about to say something else, a voice interrupted.

'Get your claws off my beedrill!'

We all turned, startled. A female trainer of about twenty or so came storming towards us. Hands scrunched into fists, her eyes narrowed into slits, her teeth bared, she certainly didn't look very pleased to see us.

There was something familiar about her . . ..

'I've had about enough of you and your stupid pokémon!' the yelled, stamping her feet as she advanced on me.

'Uh . . . me . . .?' I asked, confused.

'Yes you!' shouted the girl. She held out a pokéball and recalled her pokémon. 'Beedrill, return! Don't think I've forgotten any of the things you've done to me!'

'Um, you must be thinking of someone else . . .' I said.

'Pidgeo . . .' Potow narrowed its eyes and hunched into a battle stance, as if ready to fight the girl.

'Don't try that with me, Janet!' said the girl. I blinked. How did she know my name? 'I know very well you remember me!'

'Kat, what's the problem _now_?'

I looked up, and saw another trainer, a male of around the same age as this girl, walking towards us casually.

'It's that stupid Team Yellow again!' said the girl. 'Their pidgeot ruined everything, Ace!'

I belatedly realised who the two trainers were. They were old enemies of mine, from the pokémon journey I'd started this time four years ago. Ace and Kat. Great, just what I needed.

  
  


~Janet~


	4. Part One, Chapter Two

**Part One, Chapter Two**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Ace, Kat, Potow the pidgeot

  
  


'You!' said Ace, narrowing his eyes. 'Who do you think you are, attacking our beedrill like that! We need that HM!'

'You _stole_ it!' said the man whose name I still didn't know. 'Nobody who steals deserves anything, whether they need it or not!'

'We'll see about that,' said Ace. 'Go, Rhyhorn!'

'Go, Clefable!' said Kat, throwing a pokéball.

So it seemed that Ace and Kat had actually caught some pokémon since the last time I had seen them. Well, so had I . . ..

'Pidgeo!' said Potow, getting ready for battle.

'Hold on Potow,' I said, taking out another pokéball. 'You deserve a rest. Wager, I choose you!'

I threw my pokéball to the ground, and as it broke open, my persian materialised. Wager was the first pokémon I had caught as a pokémon master. I had caught it only a week after winning my master badge, back when it was a meowth. Since then, it had become one of my most reliable pokémon.

'I'll handle the rhyhorn,' said Sand-Cloud, pulling her own pokéball from her backpack. My friend wasn't officially a pokémon trainer, but she did have one pokémon who she liked to take with her everywhere. 'Go, Slash!'

With a flash of light, Sand-Cloud's sandslash appeared. Though it had only evolved a month ago, it was a very strong and reliable pokémon. I knew we could count on it to beat Rhyhorn.

'We're not that stupid,' said Ace. 'Rhyhorn, attack that _persian_! Horn drill now!'

'Ha!' said Gelby. 'Good luck trying to get Horn Drill to work on Wager, it's much too fast!'

She was right. I smiled as my persian leapt into the air, dodging Rhyhorn's spinning horn completely. The big rock pokémon fell to the ground as Wager landed neatly behind it.

'Now Slash!' said Sand-Cloud. 'Get in there and use . . .'

'What's wrong?' I asked, as Sand-Cloud stopped her command.

'Well it's just that-' started Sand-Cloud.

'Clefable, Bubblebeam that sandslash!' ordered Kat.

'Fable!' said her pokémon. Sand-Cloud gasped as Clefable shot out a stream of bubbles which slammed into Slash.

'Sandslash!' cried Slash, trying to block the attack with its big claws. But it was no use, the water-type attack was too much for it.

'Even though Slash is a ground-type, it doesn't know any ground-type attacks,' said Sand-Cloud hurriedly. 'It's no use against Rhyhorn!'

'Oh no,' I sighed. I turned back to my own pokémon. Rhyhorn had managed to pull itself up and was ready to attack.

'Rhyhorn, Stomp that persian!' said Ace.

'Wager, dodge it!' I said quickly, but it was too late. Not even my speedy persian could evade Rhyhorn's powerful Stomp attack.

'Perrrr!' it cried out as Rhyhorn slammed its rock-hard hoof into its side.

'I've had enough of this,' I said. 'Fern, Bloom, I choose you!'

Taking out two pokéballs, I threw them to the ground and released my oddishes. Though they were unevolved pokémon who hadn't had all that much battle experience, I was confident that they were who I needed to win this.

'Fern, Bloom, Stun Spore!' I said.

'Oddish!' both pokémon leapt into the air and began shaking their leaves, sprinkling a huge gust of powder over the area. With two oddishes working at it, the Stun Spore was sure to work! The powder built up into a green cloud, and before long I couldn't even see the battle anymore.

'What was _that_ all about, Janet!?' Sand-Cloud exclaimed from somewhere in the cloud of Stun Spore.

'Er . . .' I said, realising that perhaps it wasn't a great idea to use a double Stun Spore after all.

'Pidgeo,' sighed Potow. It began beating its wings together, blowing the cloud of stun spore away. When it cleared, I saw that sure enough, Rhyhorn and Clefable had collapsed on the ground. But unfortunately, so had Wager and Slash.

'Um . . . well we stopped them, anyway,' I said. Sand-Cloud and Gelby looked unimpressed at my battle strategy.

'Rhyhorn, return!'

'Clefable, return!'

Ace and Kat glared at us.

'That was the most pathetic battle I've seen yet!' said Ace.

Kat shook her head, disgusted. 'You may have one this time . . . but we'll be back.'

'I thought they would've gotten over that saying,' said Sand-Cloud as our old enemies turned and ran away. 'They were saying it this time four years ago.'

'That was amazing!'

I turned and noticed the man staring at us, his eyes wide with excitement.

'Your pokémon are truly great!' he said. 'You're an amazing trainer!'

'Try telling Slash that,' muttered Sand-Cloud as she recalled her paralysed pokémon.

'Er . . . I'm not that good, really,' I said, recalling my own paralysed persian. I picked up my oddishes and looked back at the man.

'No, really!' said the man. 'You handled a group of pokémon in a hectic situation, it was great! Plus you got my HM back! If you don't mind, I'd like you to come back to my place as a token of my appreciation.'

I looked to Sand-Cloud and Gelby. They shrugged. Well . . . after missing the plane to Aspen, we didn't have much to do anyway . . ..

'We might as well,' I said.

'She means, sure, we'd love to!' said Sand-Cloud, rolling her eyes.

  
  


~Janet~


	5. Part One, Chapter Three

**Part One, Chapter Three**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Potow the pidgeot

  
  


'How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself,' said the man as we sat down at a table in his backyard. 'My name is Audric.'

'I'm Janet,' I said. 'And this is Sand-Cloud and Gelby.'

Audric nodded. 'I couldn't help noticing your master badge. Did you earn it here in Mildew?'

'Yeah,' I nodded. 'About a year ago.'

'Then you must have met my son Aaron,' smiled Audric. 'He's the flying gym leader, in Cloud City.'

'Oh, really?' I asked. 'Yeah, I remember him. He was pretty tough!'

Audric smiled, nodding. 'Well, he has been around flying pokémon his whole life. After all, I was the flying gym leader before him!'

I stared, shocked. This old man who'd needed us to stop a beedrill for him, who'd congratulated me on my pokémon training even though I hadn't done anything special . . . was a pokémon master, an ex-gym-leader!?

'Wow!' I exclaimed finally.

'I retired six years ago when Aaron became a pokémon master, so that he could take over the gym for me,' said Audric. 'You see, as much as I love flying pokémon, it's not really because I like using them in battle. What I like most about them is their signature trait: their ability to fly!'

'Yeah, that is pretty cool,' I said.

'So tell me, do your flying pokémon know how to fly?' Audric asked.

I blinked. Was he serious? Of course my flying pokémon knew how to fly! He'd _seen_ my pidgeot fly after that beedrill!

'Um . . .' I said. 'Yeah . . .'

Audric smiled, shaking his head. 'Oh, I don't mean _flying_, I mean, can they use the move Fly?'

'Oh,' I said, feeling stupid. 'No, they can't.'

'I didn't think so,' said Audric. 'I noticed that when you sent your pidgeot off to fight that beedrill, you just let it do its own thing. If it knew the move Fly, it would have been able to carry you with it so that you could control it better.'

'Sounds great,' said Sand-Cloud. 'But no pokémon can learn Fly naturally.'

'Exactly,' said Audric. 'That's why my new job is teaching pokémon to use Fly!'

'You can do that?' I asked, surprised.

'Of course, Janet,' said Gelby. 'That's what HM two does!'

'Oh . . . of course,' I said, trying to cover up my ignorance. I was supposed to be a pokémon master! I didn't want to make myself look incapable in front of Audric, the ex-gym-leader!

'I normally charge for my services,' said Audric. 'But since you helped me out today, I think I owe you. If you'd like to teach any of your flying pokémon to fly, I'd be happy to do it for free!'

'Really?' I said, breaking into a smile. 'How cool!'

Imagine being able to fly on the back of Potow!

'Hey . . .' said Sand-Cloud. 'If we taught some of Janet's flying pokémon to use Fly, would they be able to take us to Aspen, do you think?'

'That's a great idea!' I exclaimed. Just when I thought my chance at competing in the Master Tournament was over . . ..

'But Sand-Cloud, Aspen is halfway across the world!' said Gelby. 'The plane trip alone takes fourteen hours, how do you expect Potow to fly for that long?'

'Well obviously it couldn't take us _straight_ to Aspen,' said Sand-Cloud. 'But if we stopped off a few times along the way, I'm sure we could make it.'

'Are you sure?' I asked. 'Could it really carry us all the way to another continent?'

'I've had plenty of trainers come to me specifically so that they could get to Aspen,' smiled Audric. 'Riding there on a flying pokémon is a lot cheaper than a plane trip, _and_ you don't have to go through that silly quarantine, and it's more fun too!'

'So you think Potow could do it?' I asked, smiling.

'Sure,' nodded Audric. 'I've got a special map made up for trainers who want to go to Aspen. If you stop at Aureate and then at Trefoil you can make it there in four days.'

'Great!' I said excitedly. 'The tournament's on in six days, so we'll make it there in time!'

'So you're going to compete in the Master Tournament, are you?' Audric asked. 'You'll be sure to see my son there.'

'Oh?' I said.

Audric nodded. 'He always goes to compete in the tournaments, a lot of the gym leaders do. You just might come up against him in a battle!'

'That'd sure be interesting,' I said. 'To fight him again, after three years!'

'He's probably a lot better now,' said Sand-Cloud. 'You're gonna have to be careful.'

'I'm sure you'll do fine,' said Audric. 'I'm very impressed with your pidgeot. So, is that the pokémon you'll be teaching to fly?'

I nodded. I knew I could rely on Potow.

'Well, take it out,' said Audric.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out Potow's pokéball. I opened it up and my good old pidgeot appeared.

'Hey Potow,' I smiled. 'How would you like to learn to use Fly?'

Potow looked at me for a moment, as if in thought. Then it puffed out its chest feathers proudly.

'Pidgeot!' it nodded.

I laughed. 'Great. Let's do it!'

'OK Pidgeot,' said Audric, standing up. 'Sorry . . . Potow, isn't it?'

'Pidgeot,' nodded Potow.

'OK Potow,' said Audric. He picked up the strange helmet which he had placed on the table. 'This may feel a little strange, but it'll be over in a few seconds.'

He secured the helmet to Potow's head, and pressed a few buttons. The screen began to flash, and a high-pitched whirring noise broke out. Potow flinched as if in pain, but it was never one to let a little pain get to it.

'Pidgeo . . .' it murmured, and I bit my lip. Although I knew that this had to be perfectly safe, I couldn't help but worry.

'Done!' said Audric, as the whirring slowed to a stop and the screen went blank. I smiled as I watched him press a few more buttons on the helmet, and then pull it off Potow's head.

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, shaking its head. Then it stood up proudly, having learned a new move.

'All right!' said Gelby.

'Well done Potow,' I smiled.

'Don't get too congratulatory,' said Audric. 'We'd better try it out to make sure it worked. How would you like to battle?'

'Battle!?' I exclaimed.

'Of course,' nodded Audric. 'How else do you expect to test your pidgeot's new powers? Although Fly is useful outside of battle, it's also a formidable move inside battle.'

I turned to Potow. 'What do you say?'

'Pidgeot!' nodded Potow.

'All right,' I said. 'Let's do it.'

Audric smiled. 'We'll make it a one-on-one to be fair. We'll use my own battlefield, over there.'

He gestured to the open space which extended off his backyard. I belatedly realised that on the short green grass, a pokémon battlefield was marked out with white spray paint.

'Wow, how cool!' I exclaimed.

'This actually used to be my gym, back in the day,' said Audric, as he began heading towards the battlefield with the rest of us following. 'I eventually had to move it to Cloud City when the Pokémon League told me I wasn't allowed to have a gym so close to the airport. Apparently the noise created a disturbance to the trainer's concentration. But I say that just adds to the challenge!'

I laughed. He had a point; trainers should be tested in all kinds of situations, including having distractions. In the real world of pokémon training, things were never as tame as they were in gym battles.

'All right,' said Audric, as we took our places on either end of the battlefield, Gelby and Sand-Cloud sitting by the sidelines. 'Are you ready?'

'Pidgeot!' nodded Potow, stepping into the arena.

'I guess that's a yes,' I smiled.

'Then let's battle!' said Audric. He took out an ultraball and threw it into the air. 'Skarmory, I choose you!'

'What!?' I exclaimed, blinking in shock as his pokémon materialised into the arena.

'Woah . . .' I heard Gelby breathe.

'I wasn't expecting _that_!' said Sand-Cloud.

Neither was I, that was for sure. The pokémon that stood before me was a tall, silver bird, covered in metal plates of armour. Its wings and tail were razor-sharp blades, and its pointed talons looked as hard as rock.

I had never seen this pokémon before. I'd been a trainer for four years, a master for one year . . . I'd seen the legendary Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Mewtwo. But I had never seen this pokémon before . . . why?

I took out my pokédex and pointed it at the pokémon.

'No data available,' it read.

'Well that was useless,' I muttered, shoving it back in my pocket.

'You seem shocked by my skarmory,' said Audric with a chuckle. 'We don't have pokémon like this in Mildew, I know. So I thought it'd be a good opponent for you, considering where you're heading off to. I caught it in Aspen, actually.'

'Aspen . . .' I breathed. Then I smiled. I'd known that Aspen was home to many different species of pokémon to the ones we had here, but I'd let that thought slip my mind when I'd been concentrating on training for the Master Tournament. Now I was more determined than ever to get to Aspen. Not only would I be able to compete in one of the world's most renowned pokémon tournaments, I'd be able to catch some great new pokémon while I was there!

'All right,' I said determinedly, my realisation renewing my energy. 'Potow, this'll be a good training session. We're gonna be facing lots of new pokémon when we get to Aspen, so we'd better get used to it.'

'Pidgeot,' nodded Potow.

'Then let's start,' said Audric. 'Skarmory, Agility!'

'Skar, skar!' said his pokémon, as it broke into a run and shot from side to side, increasing its speed.

But I knew that increased speed wasn't a match for Potow.

'Quick Attack!' I said.

'Pidgeot!' Potow shot into the air and slammed into Skarmory in what seemed like an instant. I smiled. I knew I could always rely on Potow's Quick Attack!

But to my horror, Skarmory just laughed to itself and threw Potow off, seemingly unharmed.

'No way!' I exclaimed. Surely Potow had inflicted more damage than that?

'Oh no!' said Gelby, turning to me. 'Janet, Skarmory is a steel-type!'

'A what type?' I asked, blinking in shock. I turned back to Skarmory, confused. Yes, I'd heard of steel-types . . . but I'd never bothered to learn about them because there weren't any in Mildew. Now I was regretting it. How was I supposed to defeat a steel-type? Normal-type moves obviously weren't very effective against it . . . how could they be, with all that armour? So how could I beat it with a pidgeot?

'Now Skarmory, Leer!' said Audric.

'Skarrr!' growled his pokémon, sneering at Potow. Potow shot its head down to look away but it was too late, its defence was already decreasing from the attack.

'Potow, Sand-Attack!' I said. If I didn't know how to attack Skarmory, I'd just have to keep it from attacking Potow.

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, beating its wings to send a gust of sand straight at Skarmory. The steel pokémon cried out and covered its eyes with a wing.

'Now use Steel Wing!' said Audric.

'Skarmory!' his pokémon flew at Potow and swiped my pidgeot with its wing, knocking it to the ground.

'Pidgeot . . .' growled Potow, pulling itself to its feet.

There's gotta be some way I can beat this thing . . ..

'Potow, use . . .' I thought through its moves, but couldn't figure out a strategy to beat this Skarmory.

'Janet!' called Sand-Cloud. 'Wasn't the whole point of this battle to test out Potow's Fly attack?'

'Oh yeah,' I said, shaking my head to knock myself back to my senses. I'd been so focussed on winning that I'd forgotten the reason we were battling. 'Potow, Fly!'

'Pidgeot!' said Potow, and launched itself into the air, soaring up into the sky.

'Skarmory, quick! Use Drill Peck!' said Audric.

'Skar skar!' said Skarmory, and went to attack Potow, but it was too late; it had already flown out of harm's way.

'Fly is a two-turn attack,' said Gelby. 'The first turn is used to fly up high and evade the opponent, and the second turn is used to cause damage.'

'Well done,' nodded Audric. 'You know a lot about the move considering Janet's never used it before.'

'Well, Gelby's a smart gal,' smiled Sand-Cloud, patting Gelby on the back. The pikachu blushed slightly, and I laughed. I could always rely on her - and Sand-Cloud too - to fill me in on the areas I was weaker on. People found it strange that we were called _Team_ Yellow when I was the only one who was an actual pokémon trainer (Sand-Cloud had one pokémon, but she wasn't registered as a trainer). But the fact was that the two of them helped me out so much that my achievements weren't just mine, they were all of ours.

Smiling, I turned back to the battle. I looked up to where Potow was hovering high in the sky, ready to attack.

'Now, Potow!' I called. 'Attack!'

'Pidgeoooooot!' Potow bolted down from the sky like lightning, hitting Skarmory and knocking it to the ground.

'Skar, skar!' it cried, falling back. That attack had done a bit more damage . . . but by the look on that skarmory's face when it shook its head and stood back up, it still wasn't enough.

'Geot,' muttered Potow, eyeing its opponent. It must have been as uncertain as I was about how to defeat it.

'Skarmory, Steel Wing attack!' called Audric.

'Skarmory!' Skarmory slashed at Potow with its wings once more, and my pidgeot cried out as it was thrown back with a gash down its chest.

'Hang in there Potow!' I said encouragingly. 'Try another Fly attack!'

Skarmory kept its eyes on Potow as my pokémon took to the air again, flying up out of harm's way.

'All right Skarmory,' said Audric. 'Since we can't attack it while it's in the air, let's use Agility again!'

'Skar skar,' said Skarmory, and broke into a quick run around the arena, building up its speed. I watched it as it raced around on its short sturdy legs, waiting for the right moment. Finally, it was right under Potow, and I knew this was my chance.

'Dive now, Potow!' I said quickly.

My pidgeot shot down from the sky and slammed into Skarmory, tackling it to the ground.

'Skarrr!' cried Skarmory, thrashing frantically at the larger bird. It had been caught off guard, and Potow had managed to inflict a critical hit!

'Skarmory, Drill Peck!' said Audric.

'Skar!' growled his pokémon, as its beak began to spin like a drill, and it thrust it into Potow's chest.

'Pidgeot!' cried Potow, falling back in pain. It regained its balance and stood at the ready, but it was puffing . . . I could tell that it was getting weak. I had to finish this Skarmory off quickly.

'Potow, Quick Attack!' I said.

Potow nodded and charged at Skarmory. The attack managed to inflict some more damage, but not as much as I would have liked. With Potow in its weakened state, it was unable to deal any big impacts to its opponent.

'Skarmory, Steel Wing!' said Audric.

His pokémon leapt at Potow and went to slap it with its wings . . . and missed! I smiled. So Potow's Sand-Attack had finally had an effect. Skarmory lost its balance as it swiped at the thin air, and fell flat on its face. Potow chuckled to itself proudly, which only made Audric's pokémon angry. It leapt to its feet and turned to Potow, snarling.

'Quick Attack!' I said, before Skarmory's rage caused it to attack.

'Pidgeot!' Potow flew at Skarmory and slammed against it with its large body . . . but it still wasn't enough. How was a normal-type supposed to defeat a steel-type?

'Drill Peck now, Skarmory!' commanded Audric.

'Skaaaaar!' screeched Skarmory angrily, and charged at Potow with its rapidly spinning beak. It threw itself at my pidgeot and struck it hard, causing a critical hit that blew Potow metres through the air. I watched in shock as my pidgeot collapsed to the ground, defeated.

'No . . .' I breathed, my shoulders slumped. Potow had lost.

  
  


~Janet~


	6. Part One, Chapter Four

Hoorah, I finally got around to updating TYM! I've decided to post each chapter on a new page so that fanfiction.net will actually register the update. Previously, I decided to just update the previous page with the extra chapter added to the end of it, but fanfiction.net didn't register this as an update so no one could find out that the story had been updated without going to my profile! Once I get to the end of Part One, I'll probably re-post it all on one page, and then continue each new Part Two chapter on a new page. Then when Part Two is finished, I'll repost that on one page and continue new Part Three chapters on new pages, and so on. Hopefully this will work out. I don't really want to put every single chapter on its own page since they're short chapters (though they're longer than they were in TYP). So yeah, hopefully I'll start updating this story more regularly, but I won't promise anything because my other fanfic (_Pilot Light_) tends to take up most of my attention. 

**Part One, Chapter Four**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Audric, Potow the pidgeot

  
  


I held out my pokéball and recalled Potow, then looked up at Audric, disappointed. Potow hadn't been able to use its newly-learnt move to win the battle. Even though Audric was an ex-gym-leader, it must have really shaken Potow's confidence to lose against him. Even though Skarmory was a type of pokémon we'd never faced before, Potow and I had been together for four years . . . we should have been able to figure out how to defeat it. I sighed. My own confidence had been shaken just as much as Potow's must have been.

Audric recalled his pokémon and crossed the battlefield to me, while Sand-Cloud and Gelby walked over from the sidelines.

'You fought well,' said Audric. 'I chose Skarmory because I knew it would be a challenge, and you tried hard to overcome that challenge. Don't feel too bad about it . . . Skarmory _is_ resistant against your pidgeot's attacks; it would have been near impossible to defeat. And besides, the idea wasn't to win, it was to test out your pidgeot's new attack, and I think it handled Fly considerably well.'

I forced a smile, and nodded. 'Yeah.'

Audric smiled. 'Now, come inside. You can heal your pidgeot on my PC.'

  
  


After healing Potow, we were getting ready to leave when Sand-Cloud made a point that had slipped past the rest of us.

'Potow's great and all,' she said. 'But how do you think it's gonna carry all three of us, especially over such a long distance?'

I bit my lip. She had a point. Why hadn't we thought of this earlier? Great. Just when we'd finally thought we were really gonna make it to Aspen, another obstacle appeared in our way.

'Hmm,' said Audric, rubbing his chin in thought. 'You're right. Pidgeots are strong, but carrying both you and Janet could prove a problem. Gelby's all right of course, she's only small, but as for you two . . . well, if you ask me, your best option is to teach another of your pokémon to Fly, and have one carry each of you. Have you got any other flying pokémon?'

My charizard, Chazz, immediately sprung to mind. It was the first pokémon I'd caught (on the same day I'd caught Potow), so I knew it would be strong enough . . . but a charizard just didn't seem like the ideal pokémon for flying on. Bird pokémon were more suited to that kind of thing. So who better than Arrow, my fearow? I'd caught Arrow as a spearow not all that long before becoming a pokémon master, and it had only evolved about six months ago. But I was confident that it would be strong enough to carry us to Aspen.

'My fearow,' I said, opening up my backpack and pulling out Arrow's pokéball. I opened it, and in a flash of bright light, Arrow materialised.

'Feeeearow!' it cried, spreading its wings happily.

'Ah, perfect!' said Audric. He reached his hand out and scratched Arrow under the chin, and it smiled contentedly. 'It's only young, but often it's best to teach them when they're young. And this fearow is full of energy, it looks like it'll be more than happy to fly you to Aspen.'

'Great,' I smiled. I turned to Arrow. 'How would you like to learn to use Fly, Arrow?'

'Feeearow!' nodded Arrow cheerfully.

'Then that's settled,' said Audric. 'I'll just fetch my HM, and we'll do the process again!'

'Thanks,' I smiled, as he turned and walked away to get his machine. Finally, we were all set to head out for Aspen!

  
  


'Thanks so much,' I said, as I climbed onto Potow's back, glancing over to where Sand-Cloud was already sitting on Arrow's back, ready to go.

'It's no problem,' said Audric. 'It's the least I could do after your pidgeot got my HM back. I'd be out of business if it weren't for it!'

'It was still very generous of you,' said Gelby.

'Really, it's not a problem!' Audric insisted, shaking his palms at us. 'Now, you'd better get going. You don't want to miss the tournament!'

I nodded. 'All right, see ya!'

'Bye!' Sand-Cloud and Gelby called in unison.

'Goodbye, Team Yellow,' said Audric. Potow and Arrow spread their wings, then began to beat them, and leapt into the air. 'And good luck!'

  
  


I was a little surprised that we received very few strange looks when we landed on a beach in Aureate. There were quite a few people on the beach, swimming, surfing, building sandcastles or simply sunbathing . . . but none of them seemed particularly interested when a human, yoshi and pikachu landed on the dunes on the back of a pidgeot and a fearow. Perhaps they didn't realise that we'd been flying for eight hours straight all the way from Mildew.

I recalled Potow and Arrow to their pokéballs; both flying pokémon deserved a rest after that amazingly long flight. Once they were safely in their balls in my backpack, I turned to my friends.

'So now what?' I asked.

'We find somewhere to go and sleep,' said Gelby.

'Yeah right,' said Sand-Cloud. 'We're in a whole other continent, and you want to _sleep_? Let's stay here on the beach for a few hours! Have a swim, soak in some sunlight, check out the guys . . ..'

'Er,' I said. 'Sand-Cloud, I hate to tell you this, but there aren't too many yoshis in Aureate. I don't think you're gonna find too many guys to "check out".'

'You never know, one or two might come along!' said Sand-Cloud determinedly. Then she took a look around her. 'Man, humans have all the luck! They're so common! No matter where you are, you're guaranteed to find _human_ guys. Hey Janet, now's your chance!'

'I'm gonna ignore that,' I said, as I dug into my backpack. 'Since we're on the beach, we should give the water pokémon a chance to have a swim.'

'Hey, don't you think it's more important that we find somewhere to stay, not lie around on the beach?' Gelby asked.

'Chill out, Gelby!' said Sand-Cloud. 'We've got hours. Just relax and have a bit of fun!'

Gelby sighed, but didn't object when I took out four pokéballs and opened them. In a flash of light, Ripple the blastoise, Evy the vaporeon, Politwirl the poliwhirl and Seaworth the seel all appeared. The four of them looked around, a little confused about this unfamiliar place.

'Hey guys,' I said. 'This is Aureate. We're staying here tonight, but I thought you might like to have a swim before we go look for somewhere to stay.'

My four water pokémon seemed happy at that idea. Seaworth and Ripple ran for the water immediately, while Evy started to sniff around on the sand, and Politwirl wandered over to where a boy was throwing a frisbee for a growlithe. I decided I'd better go and follow my poliwhirl; I didn't want it to get into any trouble.

'Here Growlithe, catch!' the boy called as he tossed the frisbee.

'Growlithe!' barked the pokémon, running along with its eyes fixed on the frisbee, waiting for it to fall low enough for it to catch it.

'Poliwhirl,' said Politwirl, and lifted its big hands up into the air.

'Hey, Politwirl!' I said. 'That's not your toy!'

But it was too late. Politwirl had caught the frisbee in its hands, and the growlithe, its attention fixed solely on the frisbee instead of where it was going, ran straight into my poliwhirl's big round belly. I cringed as the little dog pokémon collapsed to the ground, whimpering.

'Growlithe, are you OK!?' the boy exclaimed, running over to his pokémon.

'Whirl . . .' said Politwirl uncertainly, looking down at the growlithe.

The boy looked up at Politwirl and blinked, then turned to me.

'What kind of pokémon is that?' he asked.

I stared at him for a moment. He didn't know what a poliwhirl was? They were pretty common pokémon . . ..

'It's a poliwhirl,' I said uncertainly.

'Oh . . . I think I've heard of that before,' said the boy. 'We don't have any of those in Aureate. Where did you get it from?'

'Mildew,' I said. 'That's where I'm from.'

'Oh wow!' said the boy. 'Yeah, I thought you weren't from Aureate, 'cause of your funny accent.'

I laughed. 'Oh, OK.'

'What're you doing in Aureate?' the boy asked, as his growlithe shook off its confusion and ran off. Politwirl chased after it, and the two went off to play together.

'I'm just here for the night,' I said. 'I'm on my way to Aspen, to compete in the Master Tournament.'

'Wow, that's so cool!' said the boy. 'I hope I can become a pokémon master someday, but I'm not old enough to leave home on a pokémon journey yet. Someday my growlithe and I are gonna be the best, though!'

'That's great,' I smiled.

'My name's Tim by the way,' said the boy.

'I'm Janet,' I said. 'And those are my friends Sand-Cloud and Gelby over there.'

I gestured over to where Sand-Cloud was lying in the sand, and Gelby was sitting beside her with a worried look on her face. She caught my glance, and got up, walking over to us.

'Hi,' said Tim. 'My name's Tim.'

'Pleased to meet you,' said Gelby. 'I'm Gelby. Um . . . this may sound kind of abrupt, but do you know any places around here where we can stay? My friends are being a little laid back and expect to be able to find a place in the middle of the night.'

I laughed, and Tim smiled.

'Actually, yeah!' he said excitedly. 'My family owns a hotel not far from here . . . you can stay there!'

I blinked. 'Wow, really!?'

'Yeah!' nodded the boy.

'Wow, thanks a lot!' said Gelby.

'Well, I must say I didn't expect it to be _that_ easy,' I smiled.

'I'll take you there after Growlithe finishes playing,' said Tim.

'That might take a while,' I said, looking over at where Growlithe was chasing after Politwirl, who still had the frisbee in its hands and was refusing to give it up. Tim laughed, and ran over to play with them.

  
  


It was evening by the time we got moving. I recalled all my pokémon to their pokéballs, and Tim and Growlithe began leading us through the unfamiliar streets of Aureate. Sand-Cloud started complaining that she was hungry, to which Gelby reminded her that she had been the one who'd insisted on staying there for so long. I just laughed as I listened to them arguing, and took a look around at the Aureatean suburbs. The place didn't seem all that different to Mildew . . . the buildings didn't seem to be as tall, but that could have been because we were on the coast rather than in any of the inland cities. There didn't seem to be very many people around, as if they'd all gone home for the night already. So, I was even more startled than I would have been when three teenage boys leapt out from a side street and faced me.

'Uh . . .' I said uncertainly, taking a step back in shock.

'Haven't seen you around here before!' one of them said. He gestured to the Pokédex that I had clipped to my belt. 'You a pokémon trainer?'

'Um, yeah . . .' I said.

'I take it you're not from around here,' he grinned. 'See, 'round here we have a little thing called pokémon street battles. You battle the three of us in succession, and if you beat all of us, you get to keep the last person's pokémon. But if you lose, whichever one of us beats you gets to keep the pokémon _you're_ using!'

'What!?' I exclaimed. 'No way! I'm not risking losing my pokémon!'

'I'm afraid you haven't got a choice!' grinned the boy, holding up a pokéball.

'Of course I have a choice,' I said. 'And I'm not doing it!'

'Janet!' Sand-Cloud whispered harshly, and pulled me back so she could speak to me. 'Take a look at those trainers. They're just kids. You're a pokémon _master_ in case you don't remember. This could be a perfect chance to get a cool new pokémon!'

'But that makes it even worse,' I said. 'If my pokémon are much stronger than theirs, that makes it really unfair.'

'And you think _they're_ playing fair by making you fight three of them in a row?' Sand-Cloud asked rhetorically. 'C'mon, this is as fair as pokémon battles get. Just do it!'

I sighed, and turned back to the boys. 'Fine.'

'Great,' smiled the boy who'd spoken to me, who seemed to be the leader of the trio. 'Now, you can only use one pokémon against each of us.'

'So he tells me that _now_,' I muttered.

'Charlie,' said the boy. 'You go first!'

'You got it!' nodded the boy to his left, a short boy with long dark hair and glasses. He stepped forward. 'Prepare to lose!'

'Whatever,' I said, rolling my eyes. I took my backpack off my shoulders and reached in for a pokéball. I thought frantically about which pokémon to use. I didn't want to use my most treasured pokémon for fear of losing them, but on the other hand, they were my strongest pokémon so they were the least likely to lose. I swallowed. I should send out a strong pokémon until I figured out just how experienced these kids were. I grabbed my charizard's pokéball. 'Chazz, I choose you!'

I tossed my pokéball to the ground, and my light orange winged lizard appeared. Chazz was the first pokémon I had ever caught, back on my first day of training. Although it was a little smaller than most charizards, it was still one of my strongest pokémon, and one of my best friends.

'A fire type,' smiled Charlie. 'This should be easy. Go, Staryu!'

A staryu? A staryu? I couldn't believe it. I'd thought that Chazz would be the best choice because of its strength and loyalty, but I hadn't even taken types into account. And now I was risking the first pokémon I had ever caught in a battle that it had the disadvantage in.

  
  


~Janet~


	7. Part One, Chapter Five

**Part One, Chapter Five**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Charlie, Chazz the charizard

'Janet!' said Sand-Cloud. 'You should know by now that types aren't everything. Chazz may be a fire-type but it's also one of the strongest pokémon you have.'

'She's right,' said Gelby. 'Type advantages are a great way to get the upper hand, but they're not the only way to win.'

'Yeah,' I nodded, turning back to my opponent. I knew that my friends were right, but I was still worried. I should never have agreed to this battle; the stakes were too high.

'If you're done with your moral support, we've got a battle to fight,' said Charlie. 'So let's get started. Staryu, Water Gun!'

I cringed as his pokémon stuck out its top point and shot a torrent of water at Chazz. The super-effective attack hit my charizard in the chest and made it cry out, dealing big damage and giving Staryu an early lead.

'OK Chazz, use Swords Dance!' I said. My charizard nodded, and spun around rapidly, sharpening its teeth and claws as it did so. I bit my lip, hoping the increase in its Attack stat would compensate for forfeiting the chance to use an offensive move.

'Fat lot of good that'll do you when your stupid charizard gets knocked out by my super-effective moves!' laughed Charlie. I narrowed my eyes. I knew Chazz wasn't stupid, and no one had the right to call it that!

'Now Staryu, use Ice Beam!' ordered Charlie. His pokémon launched a blast of ice at Chazz, and I gasped. So this staryu not only had water-type moves, it had ice-types as well. And the big danger about ice was that it could freeze the defending pokémon. This was bad. I didn't have any Ice Heals or Full Heals with me. If Chazz got frozen, it would be completely immobilised, and Charlie would win.

The ice attack hit Chazz, and my charizard stood there cringing, and for a moment I thought it had been frozen, but then it shook its head and took a determined step forward, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

'OK Chazz,' I said. 'Slash!'

'Char!' said Chazz, as it leapt towards Staryu and slashed at it with its sharpened claws. The water pokémon cried out and fell to the ground, its energy drained. The gem in its centre began to flash. Had it been defeated in one hit?

'Staryu, Recover!' said Charlie. His pokémon glowed for a moment, then leapt to its feet, its wounds gone.

'I hate that move!' I moaned. How was I supposed to beat a pokémon that could restore its own hit points?

'Janet, don't worry,' said Gelby. 'Remember, Recover only restores _half_ of the pokémon's total HP! Chazz can still beat it. You do remember what Slash can do, right?'

I blinked. "What Slash can do"? But Slash was just an offensive move. It was a pretty powerful normal-type attack, but it didn't have any special properties like freezing or lowering the opponent's statistics. What did Gelby think was so great about it?

I turned around to ask her what she meant, but then I thought of something. The amount of damage dealt by an attack didn't just depend on types and statistics. There were factors that no stat could ever predict, like the actual force that a pokémon put into its attacks at any given time. If a pokémon really put its energy into the attack, it could get what trainers called a "critical hit".

That was it! The nature of the Slash attack meant that a pokémon needed to put a lot of physical force into the move, so it was more likely to be a critical hit! And when I took into account Chazz's Swords Dance increasing its Attack power . . ..

'Chazz, use your full power with a Slash!' I called.

'Again?' Charlie asked. 'That's so boring!'

But Chazz didn't seem to agree. It grinned, then leapt towards Staryu and began to thrash at it with its claws, full force. And when Staryu finally fell down, covered in scratches, it had fainted.

'No way!' Charlie exclaimed. 'That attack did nowhere near that amount of damage last time!'

'Never judge things by precedent,' the leader of the boys said. 'Pokémon battles are unpredictable, you should never expect the same effect twice.'

Charlie sighed, and held out his pokéball.

'Staryu, return,' he called sadly.

'OK Sean,' said the leader. 'Your turn.'

The other boy, a taller one with shoulder-length blonde hair, stepped forward.

'You ain't gonna beat _me_ so easily,' he said.

'We'll see,' I said, as I held out my pokéball. 'Chazz, well done, now return.' I reached a hand into my backpack to choose my next pokémon. That battle had been close. Another few water or ice attacks and Chazz would have lost. I needed a battler with as few weaknesses as possible. And I knew who that was. 'Slothie, I choose you!'

I threw a greatball, and my strongest physical fighter materialised: my slightly undersized but no less powerful snorlax.

'Snorlax,' it smiled, happy to be out of its pokéball.

'Big deal,' said Sean. 'Your pokémon may be a lot larger than mine, but that don't mean anything. Krabby, go!'

He tossed a pokéball, and a small red crustacean appeared. It clicked its two claws together tauntingly.

'He's right Janet, size doesn't mean anything,' said Gelby. 'That krabby could be a lot stronger than it looks.'

I knew she was right, but it was hard to really feel cautious. Slothie could beat that thing easily. A little unevolved krabby was no match for a well-trained snorlax.

'Krabby!' said Sean. 'Start off with Bubblebeam!'

'Krabby!' said his pokémon, as it began building up bubbles in its mouth.

'Watch out for this, Slothie!' I prepared my pokémon. It nodded, but then all of a sudden, Krabby leapt up and blasted the bubbles from its mouth, sending them straight into Slothie's head. As they exploded on impact, my snorlax wobbled around unsteadily.

'Careful Janet,' said Gelby. 'Bubblebeam can lower the defender's speed.'

'What good's that gonna do against a snorlax?' I asked. Though Slothie was physically strong, I knew as well as anyone that it was slow.

'I don't know,' said Gelby. 'He might have some trick planned.'

I shrugged. His tricks would be nothing compared to Slothie's strength.

'Slothie, use Body Slam!' I said.

'Snor!' said Slothie, leaping into the air and crashing down on top of Krabby. It lifted itself to reveal a squashed, and very displeased, pokémon.

'Now Krabby, use Guillotine!' ordered Sean. I gasped. Guillotine!? I'd never encountered this move before, but it sure didn't sound good.

It didn't look good, either. Krabby opened one of its claws as wide as it could, and as it advanced towards Slothie I could see how sharp its edges were. Krabby then leapt at Slothie, its claw reaching out to Slothie's neck.

'Slothie!' I cried, but my snorlax already knew what it was doing. It leapt out of the way and narrowly evaded the attack. I sighed with relief and wiped the sweat off my forehead. I'd nearly lost for a second there . . ..

'So your pokémon dodged it,' said Sean. 'Big deal. My attack won't miss next time, that fat pokémon will never be able to dodge it _twice_.'

'Snor!' Slothie said defensively, narrowing its eyes. 'Snorlax lax!'

'Oh oh,' said Sand-Cloud. 'I wouldn't have called Slothie fat if I was you. That's gotta be the most weight-conscious snorlax I've ever seen.'

Well, she was right about that. I'd already had too many experiences with people calling Slothie fat and it getting out of control. But hopefully, I could use its anger to my advantage.

'Slothie, use-' I started, but cut myself off when I saw that Slothie had already started an attack. 'Slothie, what're you doing!?'

My snorlax was holding its mouth open, and in its jaws a ball of energy was being formed.

'No Slothie, don't use Hyper Beam!' I exclaimed, but it was too late for it to stop. Hyper Beam? No! Sure it was a powerful attack, but I couldn't afford to lose the turn required to recharge, not while I knew that Krabby was going to use Guillotine . . ..

There was nothing I could do. Slothie launched the energy beam at Krabby, and the little red pokémon was thrown back by the blast. It weakly got back to its feet, not ready to give up yet. Slothie took a step back and drew in a breath, trying to regain its energy. Oh no . . . with Slothie exhausted from using Hyper Beam, what if it didn't have the energy to dodge Guillotine? This could be all over for Slothie . . ..

'Krabby, Guillotine!' Sean yelled. His pokémon leapt at Slothie, its claw outstretched and aiming for my snorlax's neck again.

'Slothie!' I cried. 'Get outta the way!'

Slothie lowered its head, and instead of cutting its neck, Krabby slammed right into Slothie and fell back to the ground. I sighed with relief.

'You're lucky that Guillotine isn't a very accurate attack,' said Gelby. 'But Slothie still has to recharge its energy after using Hyper Beam . . ..'

She was right. Any moment now, Sean could order Krabby to use Guillotine again, and it could be all over. I gulped as I stared hopelessly at my snorlax. There was nothing I could do . . . or was there? Just because Slothie couldn't attack this turn didn't mean I couldn't help it out. I reached into my backpack, sorting through for an item that could help me out. I had a few Hyper Potions, but would good would they be if Krabby's Guillotine hit and KO-ed Slothie? I needed something that could help it dodge the attack.

'Slothie!' I called, pulling a bottle out of my backpack. 'Here, use this X Speed!'

'X Speed?' Sean laughed as I ran over to my snorlax and sprayed the substance onto its fur. 'What good is that gonna do? As soon as my Krabby's Guillotine hits, speed won't mean anything!'

Of course he was right, but speed meant a lot _before_ Guillotine hit. I smiled. I'd encountered these "one-hit KO" moves before, and I was pretty sure I knew how to beat them by now.

'Krabby, Guillotine!' Sean commanded. His pokémon sharpened its claw and leapt for Slothie yet again, but I wasn't so worried anymore.

Before Krabby could even get near Slothie, my snorlax swiftly jumped out of the way and dodged the attack completely. Krabby crashed down to the ground.

'Impossible!' Sean exclaimed. 'How could it dodge Guillotine three times in a row!?'

'Maybe the first two times were by chance,' I said. 'But one-hit KO moves only work when the defending pokémon is too slow to dodge the attack. And thanks to X Speed, Slothie isn't that slow anymore.'

'Snor!' smiled Slothie.

'No!' Sean exclaimed. 'How could I have forgotten that!? I started with Bubblebeam to make sure your speed wouldn't be high enough but then completely forgot!' He shook his head. 'But it doesn't matter. I'll get you on the next turn.'

I smiled. No he wouldn't, because he wouldn't _have_ a next turn. His krabby was getting weak, and Slothie had a move that could knock it out with no problems . . . and as the last move, I didn't need to worry about losing a turn to recharge.

'Slothie, Hyper Beam!' I called.

'No!' Sean exclaimed, but it was too late. Slothie shot a ray of energy at Krabby, and knocked it out completely. Sean sighed. 'Krabby, return.' He turned to his leader. 'I'm sorry, Jason. She's too good.'

'No she's not, _you're_ too bad!' snapped the boy, Jason. 'How could you have forgotten the key to your own strategy? It's pathetic! You could have won that snorlax.'

I cringed. Even though I'd won, the thought of ever losing Slothie to those guys was still scary. I held my greatball out.

'Slothie, return!' I called.

'Now it's my turn,' Jason stepped forward. 'If you beat me, you get to keep my pokémon. But that won't be happening - I'll be the one to take _your_ pokémon! So pick wisely!'


	8. Part One, Chapter Six

A big thanks to Subieko for all the reviews! I really thought that no one was actually reading this story. Oo Your comments were really helpful, both in pointing out things I hadn't noticed (like how I wrote that ice was super-effective against Chazz when really it should be regular effectiveness, because the not-very-effective against fire cancels out the super-effective against flying . . .), and also in inspiring me to actually update the thing. I have a few more chapters after this written, and most of the rest of Part One and Part Two figured out (just not actually written), so hopefully I'll update more regularly from now on. Since the chapters in TYM are quite short and sometimes not much even happens in them, I really should update it more regularly, eh?

**Part One, Chapter Six**

Starring: Janet Harris, Sand-Cloud Pluff, Gelby Chu, Jason

I bit my lip, reaching into my backpack. This guy was obviously better than the first two, so I needed a strong pokémon to beat him with. But who? Potow? No, it was too tired after flying all the way over here. Come on Janet, there's gotta be someone who's perfect for this. What is it about these guys that you can use to your advantage? I thought for a moment. Staryu and Krabby . . . they were both water-types. Would Jason use a water-type too? They _did_ live by the sea . . . water pokémon would be the most accessible to them. I should use a grass-type. But . . . what if it was a trick, and Jason had a fire-type waiting for me? Would they think ahead like that? I had no idea. I could send out a water-type in hope of defeating the fire-type . . . but what if he was also going to use a water-type after all? Or even worse, what if he knew that I was going to send out a water-type to defeat the fire-type that I'd expected him to send out against the grass-type that I'd send out against his water-type, so _he'd_ actually use a grass-type!? OK, this was too much. I just had to risk it. No matter what type he was going to use, I had a grass-type who I knew would put up a good fight.

'Raus!' I said, tossing a pokéball. 'I choose you!'

My venusaur appeared, letting out a battle cry as it did so. It eyed Jason and took a battle-ready stance, ready to fight already.

'Interesting choice,' said Jason. He took out his own pokéball. 'I choose you . . . Gary!'

With a flash of light, a small bird pokémon appeared. Its body was a white ball, with two long wings sticking out at the sides, and a long yellow beak at the front. I blinked. I had never seen this pokémon before. What had he called it? "Gary"? That didn't sound much like a pokémon name to me.

'Hey, this isn't fair,' I said, looking over at Jason. 'I'm from Mildew, we don't have those pokémon there.'

'You're not in Mildew,' said Jason. 'You're in Aureate, so you battle with Aureatean pokémon.'

I sighed. This was going to be hard. Potow hadn't managed to beat that skarmory it had battled, so how was Raus going to beat this "Gary" thing?

'Let's get started,' said Jason. 'Gary, use Supersonic!'

'Gull!' chirped his pokémon, and began to screech out a high-pitched sound. Raus cringed and tried to cover its ears with its short stumpy legs, but it was no use.

'Raus!' I said. 'Use Razor Leaf!'

'Venu!' nodded Raus. It shuffled the flower on its back, and a gust of leaves blew out, heading straight for Gary . . . but just as they were about to hit, they turned around and slammed straight back into Raus.

'No!' I exclaimed. Gary's supersonic had made Raus too confused to control its own attack, and it had only succeeded in attacking itself.

'Now Gary, use Growl!' said Jason.

'Wingull!' his pokémon narrowed its eyes and growled at Raus. My venusaur shook its head in an attempt to ignore the attack, but I could tell that the technique had lowered its confidence. I thought for a moment. Growl was a move that lowered a pokémon's Attack stat . . . but pokémon had two offensive values: regular Attack and Special Attack. As long as I told Raus to use a Special attack, Gary's Growl would have no effect!

'OK Raus, use another Razor Leaf!' I said. My venusaur launched its flurry of leaves again, and this time the attack hit. Gary was thrown back, but it got straight back up, shaking off the assault.

'What!?' I exclaimed. 'But Growl only lowered Raus's regular Attack, not its Special Attack! Surely it should've done more damage than that!'

'Janet, you idiot!' Sand-Cloud called. 'That pokémon is obviously a flying-type!'

I gasped. After all that thought about type advantages, I'd completely forgotten to try to find out what type Gary was! The shock of seeing Jason send out a pokémon I'd never seen before had thrown my concentration. Now I was no better than Sean forgetting that he needed the Speed advantage to win. Great, so now I was faced with a type disadvantage. But there had to be some way to win. Chazz had pulled through, surely Raus could too. I thought through its attacks. Razor Leaf wasn't going to do much damage against a flying-type. Body Slam's power had been lowered by Gary's Growl. Leech Seed . . . Leech Seed! That could help!

'Gary, Wing Attack!' Jason ordered.

'Gull!' said his pokémon, flying down to Raus and slapping it with its wings. I cringed as Raus shook its head, trying to shake away the pain, but the super-effective attack had done a lot of damage. Leech Seed could be my only hope now.

'OK Raus,' I said. 'Use Leech Seed!'

'Saur!' Raus nodded, bending forward and shooting a seed out of the flower on its back. The seed planted itself on Gary's back and sprouted, wrapping the small bird pokémon in its vines. It sapped Gary's energy and sent it back to Raus, healing a little of my venusaur's lost hit points.

'That won't do you any good,' said Jason. 'Gary, Growl!'

His pokémon narrowed its eyes and snarled at Raus, and I watched with worry as my venusaur's Attack power continued to drop.

Now what? I could keep using Razor Leaf but it wouldn't do much damage against a flying-type. I could use Solar Beam but to do that I'd have to wait for Raus to build up enough solar energy. I could use Body Slam but Raus's Attack power had been lowered, so it wouldn't do much good. But would it have been lowered enough to make it weaker than a grass-type attack? I wouldn't know unless I tried.

'Raus, Body Slam!' I called. Raus nodded and charged forward, but it was headed in completely the wrong direction! 'Raus, what're you doing!?'

I watched in shock as Raus then performed its Body Slam on nothing but the ground, only succeeding in hurting itself.

'The confusion from Supersonic is still there, Janet!' Sand-Cloud called. 'You've gotta be more careful!'

I sighed. Surely there had to be some way of ridding Raus of confusion. If it couldn't even attack Gary, how was I ever going to win?

'Now Gary, another Growl!' Jason called. 'Make that Body Slam useless!'

'Oh no . . .' I breathed as Gary growled at Raus. My venusaur's Attack stat would be hopeless by now . . . even if it managed to attack Gary, it would hardly get any damage in.

'Well?' Jason asked impatiently. 'Are you gonna attack, or should I just knock your pokémon out right now?'

I bit my lip. I could tell Raus to attack, but what if its confusion made it hurt itself again? I couldn't afford to let Raus lose any more health . . . maybe I should put off attacking until I was sure its head was clear.

'Janet, hurry up and attack!' Gelby called.

'But what if it hurts itself?' I asked worriedly.

'You don't need to worry, Janet!' said Gelby. 'Trust me!'

Was she just being optimistic, or could I really do this? After all those Growls, Raus's Attack stat was in tatters, and if it hurt itself in confusion . . . hold on! If its Attack stat had been weakened, that meant that even hurting _itself_ wouldn't do as much damage! And with Leech Seed still active, wouldn't it recover any health it lost by hurting itself anyway? I smiled. Raus could get through this. I could risk it.

'OK Raus,' I said. 'Time for Solar Beam!'

Raus nodded and began gathering light energy into the flower on its back.

'Solar Beam?' Jason asked. 'Don't you know you shouldn't use a two-turn attack when your pokémon's confused?'

I smiled. 'Don't you know Supersonic and Growl are a stupid combination?'

'What!?' he exclaimed. 'You don't know what you're talking about! Gary, Wing Attack!'

Gary flew down and slapped Raus with its wings, and I could tell just by the look on my venusaur's face that it had done a lot of damage. The Leech Seed recovered a little health for it, but not much. I took a deep breath. This Solar Beam had to work.

'Raus,' I said. 'Now, fire the Solar Beam!'

Gary cried out as a beam of light shot out from Raus's back, slamming into the little bird and sending it flying back until it crashed down to the ground . . . defeated. I stared at it for a moment, then broke into a smile.

'Well done Raus!' I cheered. 'You're the best!'

'Saur,' smiled Raus.

Jason stared at his pokémon, before sighing heavily and returning it to its pokéball. He looked over at me, then took a deep breath.

'Well done,' he said. 'You've beaten us. And as the rules of Aureatean street battles state . . .' He held the pokéball out to me. 'Gary is yours.'

I swallowed, staring at the pokéball. If I had lost, Jason would have taken Raus . . . I would have lost my venusaur, one of my best battlers and one of my best friends. I don't know how I would ever have handled it. So how, how could I ever take Gary away from Jason?

'No,' I shook my head. 'I can't take your pokémon.'

'You're a better trainer than we are,' said Jason. 'You taught us a lot today, but we've still got so much to learn. Gary's better off with you. I'd be happy seeing it with an experienced trainer like you. Please, just take it.'

I sighed, eyeing the ball uncertainly.

'Take it Janet,' said Sand-Cloud. 'Sure you couldn't have done it without our help, but you still won. Just take it.'

I took a deep breath and nodded, taking the pokéball from Jason's hand.

'Thank you,' I said.

'Hold out your Pokédex,' said Jason, taking his own out of his pocket and holding it out to me. I opened my backpack and took out my Pokédex, connecting it to his to allow the transfer of Gary. Just as the transfer was about to begin, my Pokédex beeped and the word "Error" came up on the screen. I blinked.

'Your Pokédex doesn't recognise Wingull,' said Jason. 'Um, you're gonna have to get a new one before Gary can officially be yours.'

'Wingull?' I asked, confused.

'Uh, yeah,' said Jason. 'That's what Gary is.'

'You didn't honestly think "Gary" was the name of the species, did you?' Sand-Cloud asked with a laugh.

'Er . . . no,' I said. 'Duh.'

'Well, you're gonna need a Pokédex that recognises Wingull,' said Jason. He took the pokéball back off me and released Gary. The wingull looked up at us, confused. 'Take it with you, but you won't be able to keep it in a pokéball or use it in any gym battles or tournaments until you get a new Pokédex.'

'Oh,' I said. 'OK.'

'This is my trainer number,' said Jason, handing me a small piece of paper. 'When you get a new 'dex, take it to a Pokémon Centre and give them this number and they'll send a message to my Pokédex asking permission to transfer Gary to you.'

'Oh OK, cool,' I said. 'Thanks a lot.'

Jason bent down and patted the wingull on the head.

'Well Gary, this is it,' he said with a sigh. 'You go with Janet now. I'm sure I'll see you again one day, and until then I want you to grow big and strong, OK?'

'Gull,' Gary nodded, but it looked so sad. It sighed as Jason picked it up. I still didn't feel right about taking it. Jason had said I was a better trainer, but was that really true? I may have won that battle, but surely Jason's own ideals, the fact that he was emotionally strong enough to hand his pokémon over to another trainer . . . didn't that make him the better trainer?

Whichever way it was, I now had a new pokémon and a new companion. And I owed it to Jason to train Gary well and make it stronger.

- Janet -


End file.
